


By the Light of the Moons

by Settiai



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Dragon Age Prompt Generator, Gen, One Shot, Warden Bethany Hawke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2016-03-13
Packaged: 2018-05-26 12:53:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6240148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Settiai/pseuds/Settiai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bethany had never imagined that actually returning to Fereldan would make her feel more homesick than she had ever felt in Kirkwall.</p>
            </blockquote>





	By the Light of the Moons

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the prompt "by the light of the moon."

Both of the moons were visible for the first time in what felt like a lifetime, illuminating every single thing below them. Bethany couldn't help but let her gaze drift, taking in the sight. The land around Vigil's Keep was still recovering from the siege over a year earlier, areas of bare land that might never recover from the darkspawn standing out starkly against the green grass and trees that surrounded them.

It was achingly familiar, even after almost two years in the Free Marches.

Fereldan had been her home for eighteen years. During that first year in Kirkwall, Bethany had dreamed almost every night of waking up to find that she'd never left, that the Blight had been nothing but a nightmare and that they were still in their home in Lothering. All four of them. Or, even better, all _five_ of them. The Hawke family, happy and whole in a way that it could never possibly be again in the waking world.

She'd never imagined that actually returning to Fereldan would make her feel more homesick than she had ever felt in Kirkwall.

Bethany closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to push down the ache in her chest. She'd learned at a young age that life wasn't fair. There was no use in thinking about what might have been or focusing on regrets. It was done. The past was in the past, whether she liked it or not, and dwelling on it wouldn't change anything. She was a Warden now, and that was all there was to it.

"Hawke?"

She still wasn't used to hearing people say "Hawke" and knowing that they were talking about her, not her sister. She wasn't certain she'd ever be used to it.

Bethany's eyes shot open, and she inhaled sharply. Used to answering to that name or not, she'd recognized the voice coming from behind her.

"Warden Commander," Bethany said, quickly turning in the direction the voice had come from. "I didn't hear you coming."

Warden Commander Amell gave her a lopsided grin that was so achingly familiar that it almost caused a physical pain in Bethany's chest. "We're cousins," she said lightly. "I don't think it would hurt for you to call me Solona." 

For just a moment, Bethany could almost believe that it was Marian standing in front of her. The Commander was the same age as her sister, or close enough to it, and the resemblance truly was striking at times. Amell's nose was the wrong shape, and her skin was a shade or three darker than Bethany's or her sister's, but the similarities were uncanny.

Amell's grin started to fade, and she tilted her head. "Is something wrong?"

"No, Commander," Bethany said quickly. She flinched when Amell opened her mouth, clearly getting ready to protest the title. "Solona. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Amell—no, not Amell, _Solona_ —said, and her mouth was clearly twisting into a frown now. "But also don't lie. What's wrong?"

Bethany opened her mouth. Then she closed it.

Solona raised her eyebrows in the exact same way that Carver always had, when he'd known that Bethany was trying to hide something from him. Her eyes were even the same shade as his exactly. It was uncanny.

"Just a few old memories," Bethany said quietly. "Nothing else."

"Memories?" Solona repeated. She stared at Bethany for a moment, studying her closely, before nodding as if she'd found something that she'd been looking for. "I know something about those. Good or bad?"

Bethany looked at the woman standing beside her. The Hero of Fereldan. The Warden who stopped the Blight. The mistress to King Alistair, if the rumors were to be believed. A mage, just like her, with the same grin as Marian and the same eyes as Carver and the same Amell blood that ran though her own veins.

And she smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me over on Tumblr. (http://settiai.tumblr.com/)


End file.
